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Processes are a circle or a square with a horizontal line across the top. To learn more about data flow diagram symbols, check out our guide here. Here are the symbols you’ll need to use to create a DFD: For example, you’ll use one shape to represent an external entity and another symbol for a process. There are standard data flow diagram symbols used to represent different parts of the system. To learn more about data flow diagrams, check out our guide here. You can continue to add additional layers to the DFD, but you’ll want to keep these to a minimum. Once you’ve created a DFD, you can add levels that include more information about a process. Think of this as the bird’s eye view that just about anyone-engineers, clients, and executives-can look at to understand how a process works.
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To get started, you’ll need to create a context diagram (also called Level 0), which represents the entire system.
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